Guardrail



Aug 1937- F. o. HELTZEL 2,091,925

GUARDRAIL Filed Nov. 28, 1936 21mm is dfilizel Franc UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE GUARDRAIL Francis 0. Heltzel, Youngstown, Ohio Application November 2 7 Claims.

The invention relates to guardrails for use along highways to prevent vehicles from running off of the road at of steep grades or larly to a semi-rigid she prising formed end portions overlapped and their brackets m0 posts.

sharp turns or at the edges precipices, and more particuet metal guardrail comsheet metal rails having their and connected together unted upon supporting An object of the invention is to provide a guardrail of this character in which the rails are so shaped and mounted as to provide a semi-rigid construction sufliciently strong and durable to withstand the shocks incident to the impact of a vehicle while at the same time afiording sufficient resilience to properly cushion the shock of impact so as to avoid serious damage to the contacting vehicle and injury to the occupants thereof.

A further objectis to provide such a guardrail in which the rails are not Another object is to placed under tension. provide a guardrail of this character in which the separate rails are so mounted that they will individually compensate for expansion and contraction due to changes in the temperature.

The above objects together with others which will be apparent from the drawing and following description or which may be hereinafter referred to, may be attained by constructing the improved guardrail in the manner companying drawing, in Figure 1 is a front elev illustrated in the acwhich ation of one end portion of the improved guardrail embodying the ,in-

a vention;

Fig. 2, a plan view of the portion of the guardrail shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a vertical bracket upon one of the sectional view through a supporting posts showing the manner in which theadjoining ends of adjacent rails are conne to each other;

cted to the bracket and Fig. 4, a front elevation of the connected adjoining ends of. adjacent rails;

Fig. 5, a vertical sectional view fied form of rail;

Fig. 6, a similar. view of the rail; and

through a modiof another modification Fig. 7, a vertical sectional view through a modifled form of the bracket. Similar numerals throughout the drawing.

In carrying out refer to I similar parts the inventionposts 10 of any suitable material and design are set up at spaced intervals along the side of the posts depending rails. 'A bracket formed of a heavy sheet nected to each post. ably made by means of indicated generally at of a road, the spacing upon the length of the H, or plate of steel, is con- This connection is prefera Single bolt indicated 8, 1936, Serial No. 113,205 (01. ass-43.1)

at l2 passing through a horizontally disposed slot [3 centrally located in the bracket and of slightly greater width than the diameter'of the bolt, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. The bolt may extend entirely through the post, being provided with a nut Id at its rear end. This elongated slot is provided in the bracket'merely to compensate for any slight error the posts so that a uniform spacing of the brackets, from center to center, may be maintained throughout the entire guardrail.

The central portion of each bracket is adapted to bear against the front face of the post and this portion may be of considerable height as indicated at l5 in Fig.3 or may be only sufiicien't to accommodate the bolt l2 as indicated at I501. in Fig. 7. Above and below this central portion the ends of the bracket are flared forwardly away from the post, terminating in the vertical upper and lower edge portions [6, the free edges of which are preferably curved outward as at ll.

The flared portions referred to may be of substantially narrow width and at a slight angle to the horizontal as indicated at l8 in Fig. 3, or

they may be of relatively greater'width and at a considerable angle to the horizontal as indicated at l8a in Fi 7.

The rails indicated generally at l9 are formed of sheet metal of considerably lighter gauge than the brackets and each rail, as shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, may comprise the central substantially vertical portion 20, above and'below which the sheet is bent inward or rearward, preferably in a substantially reverse curve as indicated at 2|, and then upward and downward respectively, in the substantially narrow vertical portions 22 corresponding in width and position to the portions l6 of the bracket, the upper and lower edges of the sheet terminating in the arcuate rearwardly concaved open beads or ribs 23 extending above and below the ends of the bracket and adapted to receive the forwardly curved end portions ll of the bracket as shown in Fig. 3.

The ends of adjacent rails are overlapped as best shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and these overlapped ends of the rails are connected to each other and to the brackets by means of the bolts 24 located through the vertical portions of the bracket.

In order to compensate for expansion and contraction of the rails due to changes in temperature, spacing washers or collars 25 may be inter 22 of the rails IS in thespacing of posed between the front face of the bracket and E v may move longitudinally upon said collars as the rails expand and contract.

The central portions 20 of the overlapped ends of the rails may be further connected together by bolts 24a similar to the bolts 24 surrounded by collars or washers 25a similar to the collars 25 above described.

As shown in Fig. 5, the rail I901. may have the upper and lower vertical portions and the arcuate edge portions 22a and 23a respectively, identical with the corresponding portions above described While the central portion 26a may be of only sufficient width to accommodate the connecting bolts, the rail being flared rearwardly above and below said central portion to the portions 22a, as indicated at Zla.

In Fig. 6 the rail may be of exactly the construction illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 with the exception that the central portion 20b is rearwardly depressed at its center as at 200 to receive the central attaching bolts.

Each endpost'of the guardrail may be set slightly further back from the road than the remaining posts as indicated at I a. in Figs. 1 and 2 and a short, rearwardly curved rail section 21 may be connected to the bracket of said post and to the overlapped end of the adjacent rail 15 in the manner above described and the forms in said curved guardrail section may die out toward the rear or outer end thereof, as indicated at 28.

From the above it will be seen that a semirigid guardrail is produced which need not be placed under tension in order to provide sufficient resilience to properly cushion the impact of a Vehicle thereon. The flaredportions l8 and 24 of the bracket and rails respectively will provide suflicient spring in the entire structure to permit the guardrail to absorb or cushion the impact and then spring back to its normal position and the curved ends I! of the bracket will support the strengthening beads or ribs 23 at the upper and lower edges of the rails.

It will further be seen that any of the forms of rails disclosed herein may be used with either form of bracket without requiring any change in the construction or assembling of either.

It will be seen that when a vehicle strikes this guard rail, there will be no deflection and the vehicle will not be thrown back into the line of traflic due to the backlash which is produced with other forms of sheet metal guardrails which are held under tension. N0 dead end anchorage is required for this type of guardrail and there are no complicated or costly intermediate or end connections to get out of order.

The entire guard-rail is easier to. erect, there are fewer parts and a damaged rail can be replaced without disturbing any other rail.

The curved upper and lower edges of the rail not only assist in strengtheningthe same, but prevent serious injury to a person thrown clear of a vehicle striking the rail and also reduce the chances of damage to the vehicle.

The manner in which the rails are formed prevents their warping or sagging so that they will always remain in a true line, thus making a safer guardrail.

I claim:

l. A road guard including a series of spaced posts, metal brackets connected at their center portions to the posts and having their upper and lower end portions offset forwardly away from the posts, sheet metal rails having their upper and lower portions connected to the forwardly offset portions of the brackets, and rearwardly open beads formed at the upper and lower edges of the rails, the upper and lower ends of the brackets being forwardly curved and received in said beads.

2. A road guard including a series of spaced posts, metal brackets connected at their center portions to the posts, each bracket having a central, vertical, flat portion, forwardly disposed portions above and below said central portion and vertical, fiat upper and lower end portions, and sheet metal rails having their upper and lower portions connected to the flat upper and lower end portions of the brackets.

3. A road guard including a series of spaced posts, metal brackets connected at their center portions to the posts, each bracket having a central, vertical, flat portion, forwardly disposed portions above and below said central portion and vertical, flat upper and lower end portions, and sheet metal rails having their upper and lower portions connected to the flat upper and lower end portions of the brackets, said rails having their central portions forwardly offset.

4. A road guard including a series of spaced posts, metal brackets connected to the posts, sheet metal rails having their end portions overlapped and provided with elongated apertures, washers having spacing collars longer than the combined thickness of said overlapped end portions of the rails and located through said apertures, bolts located through said washers, and nuts upon said bolts.

5. A road guard including a series of spaced posts, metal brackets connected at their center portions to the posts, each bracket having a central, vertical, flat portion, forwardly disposed portions above and below said central portion and vertical, flat upper and lower end portions, and sheet metal rails each having a forwardly offset tical, flat upper and lower edge portions connected to the fiat upper and lower end portions of the brackets.

6. A road guard including a series of spaced posts, metal brackets connected at their center portions to the posts,each bracket having a central, vertical, flat portion, forwardly disposed portions above and below said central portion and vertical, flat upper and lower end portions, and sheet metal rails each having a forwardly offset central portion, rearwardly disposed portions above and below said central portion and vertical, flat upper and lower edge portions connected to the fiat upper and lower end portions of the brackets, and rearwardly open beads formed at the upper and lower edges of the rails, the upper and lower ends of the brackets being forwardly bent and received in said beads.

7. A road guard including a series of spaced posts, metal brackets connected at their center portions to the posts, each bracket having a central, vertical, fiat portion, a forwardly and upwardly disposed portion above said central portion terminating in an upwardly disposed, vertical, fiat end portion, a forwardly and downwardly disposed portion below said central portion terminating in a downwardly disposed, vertical, fiat end portion, and sheet metal rails having their upper and lower portions connected to the flat upper and lower end portions of the brackets.

FRANCIS O. HELTZEL. 

